Home Cinema Advice

LittleGarry

Hi there, I am a little lost in the whole AV world and am looking to invest in a decent home cinema system (room size is about 30'X15' if this has any bearing). I recently bought a Sony 40" Full HD TV so it will be hooked up to this. Currently I have a Sony dvd / surround sound system which is about 10 yrs old at this stage and is beginning to spit DVD's out and stop playing them every few minutes - I figure it's time for an upgrade! I also have a PS2 and was considering upgrading to a PS3 and using that as my Blu Ray player. Will also be getting Sky HD in the next few weeks so I will need to throw that into the mix aswell.
I have been considering a Bose Lifestyle system for the simple reason that I have a Bose computer audio setup and it sounds excellent (in my opinion anyway!!). I like the look of the small Bose surround speakers and think that they produce phenomenal sound for their size. Having read though many many posts a lot of people who are in the know describe Bose stuff as overpriced for what it is - this obviously worries me! Having never heard anything better than the Bose system (had a demo in their store in Dundrum SC and was very impressed) I am not sure what to believe at this stage or what the alternatives are - but I do know that I am not interested in being stung!
On going the PS3 route is it advisable to use this as a Blu Ray player from a quality point of view - I have heard that due to the PS3 being constantly hooked up to the net and getting ongoing software upgrades that it is an excellent option as a Blu Ray player, is this accurate?
Any advice / price quotes would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Garry.

galvo_clare

<SNIP>

The Ritz

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@galvo_clare

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Richersounds.ie: John

LittleGarry wrote: »

Hi there, I am a little lost in the whole AV world and am looking to invest in a decent home cinema system (room size is about 30'X15' if this has any bearing). I recently bought a Sony 40" Full HD TV so it will be hooked up to this. Currently I have a Sony dvd / surround sound system which is about 10 yrs old at this stage and is beginning to spit DVD's out and stop playing them every few minutes - I figure it's time for an upgrade! I also have a PS2 and was considering upgrading to a PS3 and using that as my Blu Ray player. Will also be getting Sky HD in the next few weeks so I will need to throw that into the mix aswell.
I have been considering a Bose Lifestyle system for the simple reason that I have a Bose computer audio setup and it sounds excellent (in my opinion anyway!!). I like the look of the small Bose surround speakers and think that they produce phenomenal sound for their size. Having read though many many posts a lot of people who are in the know describe Bose stuff as overpriced for what it is - this obviously worries me! Having never heard anything better than the Bose system (had a demo in their store in Dundrum SC and was very impressed) I am not sure what to believe at this stage or what the alternatives are - but I do know that I am not interested in being stung!
On going the PS3 route is it advisable to use this as a Blu Ray player from a quality point of view - I have heard that due to the PS3 being constantly hooked up to the net and getting ongoing software upgrades that it is an excellent option as a Blu Ray player, is this accurate?
Any advice / price quotes would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Garry.

The PS3 is not a bad BR - but in most cases a dedicated Blu-Ray will be better - but it's not a bad option to keep the budget down if you are building a system.

On the Bose front - I'm probably the wrong person to comment - however whilst in my experience they don't make bad products - they are generally quite expensive and you can get better value & audio quality from other manufacturers for less money - however you have to take that in the contect that I don't stock Bose!

If you like the look of the small Bose speakers there are several other options that generally most Audio experts agree that you will get really good quality from a sub-sat system from the likes of Boston / Monitor Audio / Kef etc.

If it was me - as a starting point I would look at something like the SonySTRDH510 with the Boston XSB 5.1 which we can do at £389.95.

If you wanted to improve on this system a little I would add the Yamaha RXV367 to the Boston pack at £419.95 and this will sound significantly better!

If you want to spoil yourself - & you wanted excellent quality I would go for the Denon AVR1911 with the Monitor Audio Vector 5.1 pack (these speakers are a little bigger than the Bose/Monitor Audio's) and we can do this at £599.95 which represents a MASSIVE saving on the combined retail price!

Keep me posted if you need any further info or if we can assist in any way,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew